The Government calls on the people and its institutions, as well as the Armed Forces and the Police to defend democracy

The spokesperson for the palace assured that on October 12 a popular concentration in the Plaza of Los Heroes will ratify the will of people to live in democracy. He signalled that no coup adventure would be successful because of the popular support which president Morales has. He indicted that in the last hours the Armed Forces and the Police had ratified their support for the process of change. In this mass act, the head of state will issue a message to the country.

La Paz October 10 (ABI) – The executive power today called on campesinos, indigenous peoples, students, middle classes, professionals, intellectuals, military personnel and police officers to rally on Thursday Oct 12 to defend democracy in the face of the conspiratorial interests of a minority against the government of the constitutional president Evo Morales Ayma.

He signalled that an eventual coup in the country would not succeed due to the backing of the people, of the Armed Forces, of the National Police and the international community, for this process of democratic change that the president of the republic embodies.

“Our principal objective is to defend our democratic system no matter what”, assured the governmental spokesperson Alex Contreras, who explained that the rally for democracy would occur from 9am on Thursday in the historic Plaza de los Heroes in the capital.

The authority explained that the objective was to strengthen the consciousness of the inhabitants of Bolivia in front of a “media campaign” that seeks to discredit the image of the president of the republic and of a whole people that struggled for the recuperation of democracy and, for the last 24 years, to use it and strengthen it.

Contreras pointed out that a reduced group of families who defend foreign interests have opposed the process of structural changes that president Morales is pushing forward in order to end marginalisation and inequality.

He emphasised that the government denounced from the start of its term that it had intelligence from the military High Command that a conspiratorial process was in place, financed by a transnational, which he did not identify, and supported by some business sectors, overall those tied to the large landowners.

Regarding the stories in the international press about a coup in Bolivia, he said that a wave of rumours were generated outside the borders of the country, given that “it is not possible to announce the day and time of a coup”.

Notwithstanding, he recognised that “we believe that we are dealing with a conspiratorial plan which is in place in order to discredit the government” and revealed that in the last hours the authorities had met with the military and police high command “and they ratified the support and confidence they have in this process of change in the country. They are absolutely in agreement with all the measures, and moreover, are alert to what could happen”.

He said that the convocation has the objective of bring together not only the campesinos, indigenous peoples and originarios but also above all else professionals, intellectuals, teachers, transport drivers, neighbours and house wives that are committed to this process of change.

Message from the president

The message to the nation from the president of the republic is anticipated to start at 1pm, after the representatives of all the social sectors, unions, civic groups, campesinos, indigenous peoples and originarios make use of their turn to speak.

The governmental spokesperson assured that the day in defence of democracy would be peaceful in order to demonstrate that the originario peoples, popular sectors, middle classes, business owners committed with their land and intellectuals from Bolivia respect the culture of life, of rights and honesty.

In this context, he criticised some trade union sectors who use lies and demagogy to attempt to confuse citizens who no longer believe them, even though they systematically maintain their intentions of destabilising the constitutional government.

“We believe that the voice of the people is the voice of God and in this sense we will listen to this population on Thursday the 12 who want to democratically mobilise for the strengthening of democracy and the defend of democracy” said the governmental spokesperson.

Translated from ABI